Chrash keeps reinventing itself
Chrash has been around the Quad-Cities for 10 years, but founding member Chris Bernat said people still are surprised by the band’s sound when they come to a show for the first time.
That might change soon, though, with the group’s Saturday night performance at RIBCO in downtown Rock Island. The performance will be taped for
explorationiowa.com, a Web site that features Iowa bands.
Bernat has a hard time describing Chrash’s sound and has come up with his own genre in which to classify the band.
“It’s rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s not heavy rock and it’s four pieces and vocal harmonies and melodies. But, hopefully, we give you something to think about as well. We try to have insightful lyrics,” he added. “It’s not really heavy, but it’s not really super-light. It’s kind of rooted in pop music.”
Chrash has always been Bernat and whoever he could get to play and record with him throughout the years. Paul Blomquist and Kim Murray have been playing drums and bass, respectively, with Chrash since 2003. But the newest member, Eric Stone on keyboards, backup vocals and guitar, has only played about three shows with the band.
Bernat is excited that fans will be able to see what Stone has added to Chrash’s sound and hear some new songs that will be on a release due out in November and titled “Chrash, the name they Change.”
“I think what’s really cool about it is you’ll see stuff that’s not on our (previous) albums,” Bernat said. “We have a couple of fans out there that like what they’ve already bought and paid for and have in their collection.”
The name of Chrash’s upcoming album refers to the words that Bernat likes to stick with “Chrash” to fit the band’s mood, the venue they’re performing at, an upcoming holiday or just whatever they think is interesting at the time.
The current name is Chrash Flood in reference to the flooding across Iowa. Previous names have included Chrash Your Pants, Chrash Flow, Chrash Cow, Chrash Course, Chrash Pipe, Chrash Money, Chrash Gordon, Chrash Diet, Orange Chrash, Chrash Potatoes, Chrash Browns and Chrash Nasty.
“I love to play with words and abuse the English language as much as I can,” Bernat said.
Also playing with Chrash on Saturday are Bumper Crop and Maylane. The show begins at 10 p.m. Cover is $5.
IF YOU GO
What: Chrash with Bumper Crop and Maylane
When: 10 p.m. Saturday, July 19
Where: RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave., Rock Island
How much: $5
Information: ribco.com on the Web
Also on the Web: MySpace.com/ChrashMusic
Stephanie De Pasquale can be contacted at (563) 333-2639 or sdepasquale@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.